Gattonside House, Gattonside

Gattonside House, Gattonside

Gattonside House is a Classical villa built circa 1808–11, substantially enlarged and modified in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was notably altered by John Smith of Darnick in 1824 and by Robert Lorimer in 1913–14.

The main house is a two-storey building with attic and basement, organised as a five-bay composition with a bow-fronted central section and recessed pavilion wings. It is constructed of whinstone rubble with cream sandstone dressings, featuring cill courses, a moulded cornice and blocking course, and in-and-out quoins. A single-storey linking passage connects to the east pavilion, and a two-storey three-bay wing incorporating the west pavilion extends to the side.

The south (principal) elevation presents a bow-fronted bay to the centre, accessed by steps leading to a semi-circular porch with a Tuscan-columned arcade and entablature. Slender iron colonnettes are inset within the porch, and round-arched niches with oval panels flank a two-leaf glazed-panel doorway with side lights. A tripartite window to the first floor has a balustraded parapet above. The outer bays are slightly advanced with raised panels to the blocking course.

The north elevation features a three-bay projection forming an outer hall, with a pedimented porch and low stone balustraded walls flanking basement wells. An advanced central bay contains a Diocletion window to the attic, surmounted by a broad eight-stack chimney. An arched loggia to the west elevation is now blocked. The fenestration throughout is predominantly twelve-pane glazing to timber sash and case windows. The roof is covered with grey slate, and the building displays broad corniced stacks with clay cans and cast-iron rain water goods.

The interior contains an oval vestibule to the south entrance leading to an impressive square-plan inner hall. This hall features an Ionic-columned arcaded gallery to the upper floor, top-lit by a large oval cupola. Some good plaster and vaulted ceiling work survives, principally within Robert Lorimer's west wing additions of 1913–14.

Adjoining the house to the east is a chapel designed by Brother Columba Farrelly between 1921 and 1972. The chapel is rectangular in plan with a pitched roof and features round-arched windows. It is constructed of regularly arranged, rough-faced, squared and snecked sandstone with polished ashlar dressings, a coursed ashlar base course, and chamfered cills. A pitched-roof porch with a circular window faces north as the entrance. The south (chancel) elevation has a tripartite window. The interior is finished in polished ashlar, with a Romanesque chancel arch decorated with a chevron pattern. A stained-glass nativity scene occupies the chancel, and the ceiling is supported by squared and polished timber 'cruck' trusses.

A former coach and motor house and cottage date to 1824, designed by John Smith of Darnick. These structures were remodelled in 1914 by Robert Lorimer and converted to accommodation in the 1980s by local architect Duncan Cameron. They are constructed of rubble whinstone with pale sandstone ashlar dressings. The coach house is a single-storey building with attic and piended roof, featuring a segmental-arch opening to the centre with multi-pane astragalled glazing surrounding a door, and a bipartite dormer window breaking the eaves above. Three windows to the ground floor right include a single round-arch window breaking the eaves. An advanced section to the left was added in 1914 and contains a pair of motor vehicle openings, now converted to bipartite windows. The cottage is set at right angles to the former coach house, forming an L-plan grouping. It is a simple two-bay garden cottage with a further bay added in 1914 to the right, now featuring a lean-to double door addition to the ground. Piended dormers break the eaves.

A walled garden situated to the west of the former coach house is evident on John Wood's map of 1826. It is a simple rectangular-plan garden with curved corners and low coped rubble walls to the south. A T-plan building for St Aiden's Care Home was added in the later 20th century and abuts the north wall within the garden.